Empirix Unveils Industry's First Integrated Solution for Testing and Monitoring the Quality and Performance of All Contact Center Applications

Business Wire, June 18, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2001

New Multimedia Test Ensemble(TM)Enables Synchronized End-to-End

Testing and Reporting for All Types of Customer-Facing Applications,

Including Web And Voice

Empirix Inc., the innovative provider of test and monitoring solutions for Web, voice and network applications, today announced the introduction of Multimedia Test Ensemble--a solution that, for the first time, enables organizations to conduct integrated, end-to-end testing of all customer-facing voice and Web applications and infrastructure.

Companies using Multimedia Test Ensemble will be able to guarantee high levels of application and system performance and reliability, thereby reaping the full benefits of multimedia contact centers - improved customer relationships, reduced operating costs and enhanced revenue growth. Multimedia Test Ensemble is based on the award-winning voice testing capabilities of the Empirix Hammer IT and the Web testing technology of Empirix e-TEST suite, and includes the Multimedia Synchronization Server and the Multimedia Test Manager.

Many companies are investing millions to meet their customers' demands to conduct business via multiple channels - Web, voice, fax and email. In a recent Forrester Research survey of 50 call-center managers, 70% said a Web-based call center strategy is critical to their companies, and 26% indicated they have already implemented Web call center applications. The complexity of these multimedia systems can create significant performance and reliability risks that only thorough testing and monitoring can mitigate.

According to Bernard Elliot, Research Director, Gartner, "As businesses invest in sophisticated technologies to enable customer interaction through multiple channels such as Web, voice and fax, it is critical that they also implement a comprehensive solution to test these integrated systems to ensure optimal performance and maximum return on the business investment."

"The promise of customer relationship management (CRM) hinges on one fundamental element: making a complete picture of the customers' information visible when employees interact with them," said Steve Kimball, co-founder and director of marketing at eConvergent, Inc., a leading enterprise CRM platform provider. "Many systems must be connected to achieve this 360-degree view of the customer. Testing capabilities provided by Multimedia Test Ensemble allow us to view the entire infrastructure and user transactions via a single interface. For the first time we are able to test for potential bottlenecks across multiple systems. By tracking a single CRM transaction and fully understanding how each segment of the transaction is performing, we can ensure optimal user experiences."

Multimedia Test Ensemble Ensures Customer Quality Of Experience Across All Channels

As components of the overall Multimedia Test Ensemble solution, Hammer IT and the e-TEST suite are used to generate virtual callers, Web users and contact center agents while measuring the Quality of Experience (QoE) for each type of user. The Multimedia Synchronization Server (MSS) is a newly developed component that synchronizes the Hammer and e-TEST scripts to permit fully integrated, end-to-end testing of all customer interactions in a multichannel environment. The Multimedia Test Manager (MTM) provides a single-console user interface for all components of the Multimedia Test Ensemble solution, and allows users to develop integrated Web/voice scenarios that emulate real-world conditions. MTM simplifies and manages test scheduling, and generates and stores integrated reports that track application and infrastructure performance at every point in a customer transaction. Designed with an open architecture, the Multimedia Test Ensemble also works with third party script-driven testing tools to allow customers to leverage their existing test processes in a multimedia environment.

Component Overview

Hammer IT:

-- Allows contact centers to generate hundreds or thousands of actual test calls to thoroughly test new or modified systems prior to deployment

-- After deployment, can be used to place regular, scheduled test calls to monitor the performance of critical customer applications

-- Issues instant alerts if any problems are discovered

e-TEST Suite:

-- An integrated suite of tools for functional/regression testing, load testing, and 24x7 monitoring of Web-based applications

-- Accurately emulates real Web browser traffic for thousands of concurrent Web users

Multimedia Synchronization Server:

-- Synchronizes interactions between virtual voice and Web customers with virtual contact center agents to enable full, end-to-end testing of customer facing contact applications

-- Accurately tracks the flow of complex interactions and associated transaction data which aids pinpointing application issues such as slow response times, improperly routed calls, broken links or other functionality or scalability problems

Multimedia Test Manager: